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“Why do you hate me so much?”
The question had come out of nowhere. Sou had been meandering the hall of rubble for quite some time now. He was waiting on Kanna to get out of an attraction. The pair had gotten up early to get a jump on the day. Kanna was falling behind a bit on tokens and wanted to do attractions with Gin - Sou himself lacked any sort of talent for dancing, lack of stamina and all.
Go figure the samurai women would corner him as he waited for her.
He put a hand on his scarf - a self comfort tactic - and gave her a fake chipper smile. “Why hello Miss Sara! Funny seeing you here. I’m surprised to not see you walking your friendly neighborhood police dog.”
Sara’s brows furrowed, causing her eyes to darken and glare even harsher than before. “I asked you a question.”
Sou looked to the side, eyeing a few fallen support beams as if they were the most fascinating thing. “Did you now? Guess I didn’t hear you.” If Sou knew how to do anything, it was push people’s buttons. Something as little as a smirk had a way with aggravating a person - and it was working wonders on Sara right now.
Instead of beating around the bush, she chose to cut to the chase. “Out of everyone here, you chose to target me.” Her voice was accusatory, but held a hint of something else Sou couldn’t quite catch. “My best friend died because of that stunt you pulled, and I’m willing to bet it was on purpose!” Her voice raised a few angry octaves. “And now you’re trying to split me and Keiji with your stupid mind-games.” Her voice quieted, but was audible enough to hear. “Are you going to hurt Gin too? Is that something I have to watch out for now?”
The teal haired man could only glance at her. She was clearly distraught. On the verge of being broken. Try as she might to save face, the bags under eyes told the whole story.
She was scared of him.
Somehow… this didn’t taste as sweet as he had hoped for.
Sou shrugged and looked away coolly. “Gin’s a nice kid. I won’t do anything to him.” He dropped the line. Maybe this would be enough to get her off his back for now.
Sara, however, refused to take the bait. Her eyes squinted at him, her shoulders tensed. She didn’t - no. She couldn’t trust him. Not his word. Not on anything!
But…
He changed the message on that phone for Kanna…
He couldn’t be all bad… right?
“For your information…” Sou started, seeing the confliction in her eyes. “If Joe didn’t get the sacrifice card… someone else would have. Gin, Kanna, Nao, Reko, Alice… even your favorite police dog.” He tilted his head, skipping a beat. “Would you rather they died in his place?”
The orange haired girl stiffen. Her throat constricted, like something was choking her. She tried hard to ignore it. “... I guess not…” She said in a defeated tone.
Sou felt like his chest was going to eat him alive. He… wanted to live… if not Joe, then he would have died instead. And which one of them would mourn his death? No one. They were all strangers!
And yet…
Sara turned to leave. She managed a few steps until -
“Wait!”
The samurai girl froze up, but she didn’t turn around.
Sou, in the meantime, was mentally kicking himself for doing that! “Uh…” Crap. What was he supposed to say in a situation like this? Apologize? His throat felt like ash and his words kept getting swallowed by the monstrous void in his chest. “Nothing personal.” He finally said. Now he was sweating. “I-I mean.” He gulped. “I didn’t plan for Joe to pick it up!” Why did justifying himself to her feel important now? “I-I just threw the card anywhere.” Now he was rambling for sure. “I had no real way of getting anyone to-”
“You got Kanna to pick it up.”
That shut him up. Sara was looking over his shoulder now. Her amethyst eyes had a fire in them. Her stance had now changed to face him - like a warrior entering battle.
Sou could only feel intimidated by the coming storm and sinks into his scarf. He was fucked.
“This was personal the moment you got my best friend killed.” She opened up slowly. “I get it. You didn’t want to die. No one here does! I’m glad you’re at least honest about that. But manipulating Kanna just to save your own hide? How much of a rat are you!?” Now she was advancing closer to him. “And even if you changed the text message, you still used it as a bartering tool! You didn’t earn her loyalty! You bought it!”
Sou glared at her. “As if you wouldn’t?” He stood at full height. Even if he wasn’t strong, he at least knew how to look off-putting with his mint-blue eyes. “And what of it? Mad I beat you to it?”
Suddenly she was close. Too close. Far too close for comfort. He hated how close she was.
“You act as if I’ve wronged you in some way. You assume the worst of me, yet go around doing the exact thing you accuse me of.” The bags under her eyes seemed to almost vanish under the burning glare of violet. “Sou Hiyori, you are a goddamn hypocrite!”
A beat of silence. He wasn’t going to acknowledge it.
“You know way more about this death game than you let on...” She frowned.
“Do I?” He smiled sarcastically. As if his mood couldn’t be even more soured.
“But you’re too scared to ask for help.”
….. Huh?
She continued. “You think turning your back on everyone is going to ensure you outlive us. But what you’re actually doing is making everyone want to choose you more because you’re a jerk.”
What the-
“You’ve ostracized yourself from everyone, because you feel like you can’t trust anyone!”
What was this girl!?
“And you think being cute is gonna make everyone NOT vote for a coward like you!?” He glowered. ‘How dare you…’
Sara raised an elegant brow. “Oh so now I’m cute?” She sounded unimpressed. Keiji has passed that line one too many times to have an effect anymore.
A pinch of red dusted his pale cheeks. “Th-that's not what I meant!”
Sara scoffed at him. “Oh? And what did you mean?” She challenged.
He rose to that challenge amicably. “That you’re no better than anyone else here! So quit thinking being leader makes you immune to being voted off in the next Main Game - news flash it doesn’t! You expect everyone else to die in your place because they love you!”
“How dare you!” Losing her temper, Sara grabbed Sou by his obnoxious polka dot printed scarf and was ready to thrust him against the wall.
“U-um…”
The samurai and the beanie boy turned to see the young olive haired girl eyeing them suspiciously. A boy dressed quite oddly was coming out of the attraction right behind her.
“Big sis Sara woof?” The boy tilted his head.
Sara blinked a few times. “G-Gin!”
“I-is everything okay, meow?” The boy held his cat plush tighter.
Sou watches Sara’s reaction, seeing discord in her eyes. An urge to act out her will over him, versus putting on a mask for the children.
In the end Sara concedes. She releases the grip on the scarf, albeit reluctantly.
“Gin… did you get your tokens?” She quickly changed the conversation. She brushed a stray hair behind her ear, as if she wasn’t about to beat Sou into a pulp.
Gin ate up the attention. “I sure did woof! Bucket girl helped me meow!”
Sara giggled. “That was real nice of you, Kanna!”
Kanna’s eyes seem to brighten with the acknowledgement from Sara. “It was… no problem! Kanna is here to help!” The young girl smiled vividly.
‘Makes me want to throw up…’ Thought Sou. He watched the kids soak up Sara’s recognition like sunflowers worshiping the sun. Even Kanna loved her more than him…“... pheh…” He turned away and stalked off. He heard Kanna shuffle on her feet, mutter some sort of goodbye, then footsteps catching up to him.
What the hell did she have that he didn’t? Hmph…
“This isn’t over, Sou.”
He looked over his shoulder. Aquamarine pools met rigid amethyst. If they were outside, he was sure a dramatic breeze would pass them by. Instead the two finally looked away and continued on their set paths. The kids seemed a bit confused, but this battle was a private one. His vote against her vote.
‘Your conviction versus mine.’